Monday 8 December 2014

exercise: create a new soundtrack

OK,  I've changed my mind. It kind of felt bad not doing the exercise, and I really believe sound is half of the image (as mentioned in the course notes) so better practicing a bit... let's try and do the exercise. I have assumed the course notes make reference to the exercise in project 3, the feel of a frame, where we filmed the subjective point of view relapse of an alcoholic at home.
Here is the video, and below the list of sounds in it.



Note that describing sounds, not being an english native speaker, is not my thing. In the notes we are given some clues, like use a flavour, a smell, a colour, an emotion, physical texture...
  • the coffee machine: Mechanical, loud, vibrant, sour, dark, frightening.
  • the blinds opening: crispy, brisk, sharp.
  • the sound of the book pages and the book on the table: soft, melancholic, earthy.
  • opening the bottle: musical,  salty.
  • pouring the wine: joyous, musical, soft, light. 
Create a new soundtrack
Re-recording the sounds and editing them in the video editor. We need to create a new soundtrack for our video. The next things have been changed:
  • I have integrated the coffee machine audio between the two different shots, now the audio track is continuous
  • The blinds noise is recorded new, the previous audio discarded. Before we could hear other noises from the camera or the opening rod, i.e. the audio quality was bad.
  • In the TV shoot, I have introduced the sound earlier, when we are in the previous scene. I think this is cool, not any other particular reason. It helps to introduce a scene that is different from the previous, and quite different. 
  • I have joined the audios of the TV scenes, extending the audio from one scene into the next one and mixing them at the same level, so it seems more continuous, without obvious breaks.
  • I have eliminated sharp ends, i.e. when you stop listening to the TV, now it fades away instead of ending abruptly.
  • I have re-recorded the noise of the book. before you could hear noises from the camera, and the quality was not good, as the sound was almost imperceptible. 
  • I have re-recorded the sound of the steps. Again, the quality of the sound was poor, with some undesired noises. 
  • I have deleted, whenever possible, the noises from the camera and my breath. I have recorded "silence" in the room and filled the gaps with it. 
The results are below: